Vol defensive leaders tired of excuses

He doesn't care that the Volunteers' three-deep lineup at defensive line and linebacker includes only five upperclassmen.

The way Burnett sees it, five games into the 2003 schedule should be plenty of time for Tennessee's youngsters to understand their role and know what to do when certain defensive calls are made.

Burnett says that hasn't been the case.

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"We've got some guys who don't know where to go on certain calls. We've got guys not asking the coaches questions. They're asking me what to do in the huddle," Burnett said. "We ask them, 'does everybody understand?' People shake their heads like 'yeah.' So, we go on and we put in more stuff. The biggest thing for us is we have to know our assignments and know our alignment, then go out there and get the job done."

Especially, when it comes to defending the run.

Traditionally having one of the better run defenses in the SEC, Tennessee ranks seventh in that category entering Saturday night's game against Georgia (7:45, ESPN2), and in the last two games have surrendered an average of 240.5 against South Carolina and Auburn.

"A lot of things have to happen for us to get better against the run. The two biggest are we have to line up better and we have to tackle better," Tennessee defensive coordinator John Chavis said. "And that all goes back to coaching. That's where we need to get it done, and we've got to transfer what we do in practice to the game. We think we have the talent to do that, we've just got to do a better job."

Senior linebacker Robert Peace says the Vols aren't as nasty as they used to be.

"It's nothing to do with effort," Peace said. "It's just having that attitude of saying, 'hey, we're going out there and we're going to try and hurt them.' "

Like Burnett, Peace also rejects the notion that the defense is young and still trying to find its way.

"We can sit here and say we're young and make 100 different excuses, but its time to get the job done," Peace said. "We need to have the attitude that no matter what happens we're going to go three-and-out and get a turnover. We need that to get our confidence back and compete the rest of the game."

Still, Tennessee's youth on defense is a factor Volunteer coaches have dealt with on a daily basis.

Following Monday's practice, coaches worked with the defensive line an extra 10 minutes after the rest of the team returned to the locker room.

On the defensive line, senior end Constantin Ritzmann (6-foot-4, 265 pounds) and senior tackle Mondre Dickerson (6-5, 290) were the only Volunteers with any real game experience entering the year.

Auburn was able to take advantage of that inexperience, as the Tigers' offensive front was able to give running back Carnell "Cadillac" Williams huge avenues through which to run.

The Tigers rushed for 264 yards in their 28-21 win, but Chavis discounted the suggestion that his young defense was out-manned by a more experienced Auburn offensive unit.

"We were not out-manned, not at all," Chavis said. "Now Auburn did a great job, and they've got a great tailback who makes them an outstanding team. He was really hot, and we were ice cold for a couple of series. They were able to hit some big plays, and credit Auburn for that. But I don't think we were out-manned."

Maybe not.

But according to Burnett, the Vols need to make sure everybody on defense is on the same page come Saturday. Burnett says Tennessee has no choice if it wants to beat the Bulldogs.

"We've got to make sure we run things where everybody knows what they're doing. That's what got us against Auburn," Burnett said. "We had people who were not lined up or we were not getting the call in fast enough.

"It's going to be very important that we make a statement early to let Georgia know that we're here to win."